


New isn't bad

by Pippitypopadoo



Series: Self-indulgent IwaOi [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood Friends, First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 21:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2244468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippitypopadoo/pseuds/Pippitypopadoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new house, a new neighbourhood. Changes aren't always easy for children, but that's what friends are for.</p><p>IwaOi week, Day 1: Childhood and Day 2: First Times.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New isn't bad

**Author's Note:**

> Just learnt today that IwaOi week started yesterday! No wonder I got itchy fingers last night, ready to write.
> 
> Not beta-ed.
> 
> *Edit: Gonna cheat a bit and say this is both Childhood and First Times as in First Meeting. The more I thought about it, the more I'm not very sure if I will be continuing this particular fic because some things are not working very well together for the continuation, so umm, yeah. Can be considered complete but I may revisit!

When Oikawa first moved into the house, where if he stood really, really straight at the top of the steps on his tippiest toes and tilted his head just right, he could spy the mountain peeking up behind the roof of his neighbour’s house, he thought his new home was pretty all right, but not terribly exciting. He didn’t really understand why they had to move, when their old place had a nice old neighbour Mika-san who would sneak him cookies and let him climb her tree, and the shop down the street was never out of milk-pan. Sure, it was exciting at first, to be able to brag that he was “gonna go to a totally cool new place, bet they’ve got lotsa fun stuff to do!”

(“That’s nice, Tooru-kun,” his favourite neighbour would say, smiling at him genially. He’d puff out his chest and nod furiously, in the obvious way children do when they are trying to boast about something they know nothing about.)

But now, dusk was settling down over the neighbourhood and the streets were quiet. Except for some curious stares and polite nods from strangers. People he didn’t know.

Oikawa stopped tip-toeing when he felt that was going to fall over. His sister was busy helping his parents move the last few boxes into the house and he was supposed to go in soon but he didn’t feel like it, not yet. He walked to the small tree that had branches creeping over the fence separating his house from the neighbour’s. It was a young tree, looking all weak and spindly. Not like the big sturdy one Mika-san had. He couldn’t climb this tree at all.

A stifling feeling wrapped around his heart and squeezed tight. It was strange, because this yard his family now had was bigger than the older one ( _the more familiar one, because that corner kept his bike and the fence by the entrance had scorch marks when he accidently swung his lantern into it)_ , but it made him uncomfortable and it made him angry. Moving didn’t seem fun anymore. Oikawa felt cheated; it was like he had been lured into a nicer, cleaner court, with new nets and floors that made his shoes making squeaky sounds when he runs, but then he turned around and realise that he was the only one playing.

That was no fun at all.

In a fit of rage, Oikawa kicked against the fence and a sharp pain shot through his right foot. “Ow ow owww,” he muttered as dropped to the ground and massaged his poor tortured foot. _Stupid fence!_

“That was pretty dumb,” came a muffled comment in front of him, and Oikawa looked up in surprise. A shock of black hair had appeared, floating above the pale beech fence. Two sharp eyes barely staying above the top of the fence were looking at him curiously.

“Well, you’re short,” Oikawa shot back without thinking, self-induced pain forgotten at the sight of this new kid. Not that it wasn’t true, because _he_ could look over the fence without tilting his head.

The newcomer narrowed his eyes at him, probably scowling. “At least I’m not stupid enough to kick something as hard as a fence. I’m gonna get my growth spurt one day and then I’ll be tall as my dad’s tree! We’ll see who’s the shortie then!”

“Well, Mika-san had a tree even taller than your shortie over there!” Oikawa stuck a tongue out at him. “It’s so tall, I could see the ramen stall a coupla streets down when I climb it! I could even see the sea!”

“Hey, that's my dad's apple tree, and it's gonna grow big and strong! But, wait, hang on.” The boy disappeared and there was the sound of something being dragged over, before he came back again. This time, Oikawa could see his whole face. He stood up from where he was sprawled on the ground and walked over, a smirk on his face.

“Are you standing on a box?” He laughed gleefully.

“Shut up,” the boy scowled, though Oikawa just grinned harder when he noticed that the boy’s cheeks were slightly redder. “Anyway, you lived near the sea? Do you catch a lot of fish or prawns? I only see the sea when I go visit my grandparents, then my uncle lets me watch him fish.”

“Not really…” Oikawa looked at him warily, before continuing. “I don’t know how.” When the boy didn’t react to that, he hastily continued, “But most of the time my sister teaches me beach volleyball when we go to the beach!” He paused then, and glanced at the tree, shifting his weight.

“What’s up?” The boy cocked his head.

Oikawa scrunched up his face, but then made up his mind and looked back at him. “Wanna play volleyball with me?”

The boy blinked, but took it in stride. “… Sure. I don’t know how though.”

Oikawa’s face lit up at the easy agreement. “I could teach you!”

“Wanna learn how to fish with me one day then? I can ask my uncle to teach us.” the boy offered in turn. “He always says ‘When you’re older though’,” he continued, disgruntled. “Said it last year and the year before that, when the heck is ‘older’?” The boy shook his head, but smiled at Oikawa. “But one day?”

Oikawa smiled back. “One day!” He stuck out a hand and the boy grasped it tight. They shook on it. “I’m Tooru! Oikawa Tooru.”

“Nice to meet you,” the boy said solemnly. “My name’s Iwaizumi Hajime.”

“ _Hajimemashite_!” Oikawa said mock-seriously and bowed, then looked up grinning to see Hajime scowling at him.

“It’s not _that_ funny!” the boy – _Hajime_ – complained, and looked like he would say more except that a woman came out of the house, calling for him.

“Hajime, what are you- Oh, hello! Are you our new neighbour?” It was a nice smile, Oikawa thought. Like Mika-san did whenever he went to visit her.

“He’s Tooru!” Hajime supplied helpfully, and Oikawa gave his greetings with a bow.

“Well, you two must be around the same age! Looks like you’ve made a new friend, Hajime.” She patted his head and Hajime swatted at it. Oikawa tried not to laugh at his expression, until Iwaizumi-san turned her attention back to him. “Tooru, you’re welcome to come over anytime, all right?” She smiled.

She had a nice smile, Oikawa thought. Like Mika-san did, whenever he went over to visit her. Like she was genuinely happy to see him. His dad had once told him that genuine, honest people were good people to be around, people you can trust.

_“What’s trust?” he had asked._

_“Trust,” his father said, “is knowing that the person will tell you what they are thinking and not lie to you. It’s knowing that they will help you when you need their help. The best kind of trust is knowing that they will guide you back to the right path when you are wrong.”_

_That got pretty deep really quickly, as his father was prone to do, and Oikawa didn’t entirely understand what his dad had meant even though he had just nodded along._

“Hajime, it’s time for dinner. We’ll see you around okay, Tooru-kun?” They waved goodbye and Oikawa waved back (and not bothering to hide his laughter when Hajime’s head disappeared and Iwaizumi-san picked up a box from where Hajime had stood. Hajime then tip-toed again and threw him a look).

Oikawa ran back into the new house, not realising that the heavy feeling he had was gone in the face of looking forward to teaching Hajime, his new friend, volleyball the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Suddenly, because of this, Oikawa's sister playing beach volleyball is important to me.
> 
> 2\. Just in case you aren't aware, 'hajimemashite' is a pretty formal Japanese greeting for when you meet someone for the first time. Idk if the pun is actually funny or not, but I'm pretty sure that Oikawa might say it anyway to make it a joke and Iwa-chan would just be tired with it. I don't really like randomly interjecting Japanese words where they aren't really needed, but even baby Oikawa's gotta be an ass. (But like if the pun really is lame please tell me because I'm too tired to properly gauge rn heh)


End file.
